Phillies no-hitter history

The Phillies’ rich history dates back far enough that the franchise’s first no-hitter was recorded under a different team name. The team’s next no-no left the Beaneaters hitless.

Including those 19th-century no-hitters, Phillies pitchers have blanked the opposition’s hit column 14 times. Only eight franchises have more.

MLB.com compiled a list of every no-hitter thrown in Phillies history. Let’s take a look, starting with the most recent.

Aug. 9, 2023: Michael Lorenzen
Phillies 7, Nationals 0

In his Citizens Bank Park debut following a trade from the Tigers, Lorenzen made quite the first impression with the Phillies faithful by throwing the first no-hitter for the franchise in eight years. Incidentally, Cole Hamels -- the man who threw the Phils' previous no-hitter on July 25, 2015 -- announced his retirement just five days earlier.

Lorenzen walked four and struck out five on a career-high 124 pitches. It was the 31-year-old right-hander’s second start for Philadelphia, and he threw eight strong innings in his Phillies debut on Aug. 3, giving up two runs in a 4-2 win over the Marlins in Miami.

July 25, 2015: Cole Hamels
Phillies 5, Cubs 0

This was the 2008 World Series MVP's last start in red pinstripes. After 26 outs and no hits at Wrigley Field, Kris Bryant clubbed a fly ball off Hamels to deep center field. Odubel Herrera followed the ball to the warning track, but he hovered a bit too deep. He flopped back toward the front of the track and snagged the ball just before it hit the ground.

Although the final out might have come with some suspense, Hamels had earned the 13th no-hitter in franchise history. He was traded to the Rangers less than a week later.

"It's not what I envisioned," Hamels said after the game, when asked about the game likely being his last for the club. "It's not what I thought. It's not in my thought process. I think all I've been thinking about the past couple days was just to kind of correct my pitching, just being able to be out there and enjoy the moment.”

Hamels’ no-hitter was the first time the Cubs had been left hitless since another dominant lefty, Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax, tossed a perfect game against them on Sept. 9, 1965.

Sept. 1, 2014: Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, Ken Giles, Jonathan Papelbon
Phillies 7, Braves 0

Less than a year before Hamels’ solo no-no, he started the only combined no-hitter in Phillies history. Manager Ryne Sandberg pulled Hamels for a pinch-hitter; the lefty had thrown 108 pitches in six innings. Then Diekman, Giles and Papelbon each pitched an inning to finish the job at Turner Field.

Four pitchers hadn't combined to throw a no-hitter since the Orioles completed the feat in 1991.

“To have these guys come in and shut the door in the fashion that we did,” Hamels said after the game, “it’s a pretty impressive sort of day, just to see that, because it took a whole team to do it.”

Oct. 6, 2010: Roy Halladay (Game 1, NLDS)
Phillies 4, Reds 0

Halladay started 320 games before he pitched in the playoffs. The 13-year wait didn’t hurt, as Halladay no-hit the Reds in the Phillies’ first playoff game of 2010 at Citizens Bank Park.

He faced just one more than the minimum, striking out eight and walking one in the historic effort. It was just the second playoff no-hitter in MLB history; the Yankees’ Don Larsen threw a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.

May 29, 2010: Roy Halladay
Phillies 1, Marlins 0 (perfect game)

Earlier during that same season, which was Halladay’s second Cy Young campaign, Doc became the second Phillies pitcher to achieve perfection. He struck out 11 of the 27 Marlins he faced en route to pitching the 20th perfect game in Major League History.

"It's something you never think about," Halladay said. "It really is. It's hard to explain. There's days where things just kind of click and things happen."

Halladay had experienced his worst start of the season his previous time out, allowing seven runs in 5 2/3 innings. But he made some adjustments in the first step of his delivery, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, after discussions with pitching coach Rich Dubee and fellow veteran starter Jamie Moyer.

The Marlins sold tickets to the game afterward as commemorative keepsakes -- even for fans who did not attend.

April 27, 2003: Kevin Millwood
Phillies 1, Giants 0

Millwood had a fine start to the Phillies' final season in Veterans Stadium. The Phils had won four of his five starts when he approached his last start in April. But something on April 27 felt wrong.

"Warming up, I didn't think it was going to be a real good day at all," the right-hander recalled to MLB.com in 2013. "I remember walking into the dugout and thinking that I'd better figure out something pretty quick or it was going to be a bad day and a long flight to Los Angeles."

Nine innings later, Millwood had thrown the game of his life, a 10-strikeout, three-walk no-hitter. He said he knew he had a chance early on. When he struck out Barry Bonds in the seventh, he was even more sure.

After the game, the Phillies gifted Millwood a Toby Keith-autographed guitar.

"I'm still a big fan of his. I haven't changed my taste in music," Millwood said. "I'll keep that until I turn it over to my kids when I'm six feet under, I guess."

May 23, 1991: Tommy Greene
Phillies 2, Expos 0

Greene had been pitching out of the bullpen early in 1991.

“My thought was, if I run out of gas, they will put someone else in for me,” Greene wrote on MLB.com in 2016. “Hold nothing back!”

When Greene faced the best Expos hitters in the ninth, he thought of an old pitching coach who nagged him to finish games. The right-hander snagged a Tim Wallach comebacker to the mound and threw his arms up triumphantly before tossing to first base for the final out.

Aug. 15, 1990: Terry Mulholland
Phillies 6, Giants 0

Mulholland faced the minimum, but a throwing error by third baseman Charlie Hayes on a Rick Parker ground ball in the seventh spoiled a chance at perfection.

Mulholland struck out eight -- a career high at the time. It was the sixth of seven no-hitters in 1990.

June 23, 1971: Rick Wise
Phillies 4, Reds 0

Wise got Pete Rose to go 0-for-4 and line out to end the game. Wise struck out just three, but he homered twice in the game. He hit 15 homers in his 18-year career.

June 21, 1964: Jim Bunning
Phillies 6, Mets 0 (perfect game)

There hadn’t been a perfect game in the National League since 1880 until Hall of Famer Bunning’s Father’s Day outing. He struck out 10 at Shea Stadium.

May 1, 1906: John Lush
Philles 6, Superbas 0

At just 20 years old, Lush no-hit the Superbas (now the Dodgers) at Washington Park in Brooklyn.

Sept. 18, 1903: Chick Fraser
Phillies 10, Cubs 0

In his second stint with the club, Fraser pitched the third no-hitter in franchise history. He walked five and the Phillies committed four errors. The one-hour, 40-minute game was the second of a doubleheader.

July 8, 1898: Red Donahue
Phillies 5, Beaneaters 0

This, from the Cincinnati Enquirer’s edition the following day, says it all:

"Donahue did not seem to exert himself in the least in making his great record against the Beaneaters, but he made excellent use of the gray matter beneath his auburn locks. First, it was a tantalizing slow one, and then a very speedy curve. His change of pace could not have been excelled, and his opponents were 'shooting ducks' from start to finish.”

Aug. 19, 1885: Charlie Ferguson
Quakers 1, Grays 0

Ferguson tossed the first no-no in Phillies history during the franchise’s second season, back when they were still called the Quakers. The 22-year-old right-hander struck out eight and only allowed five balls to reach the outfield.

At the time, pitchers threw on a flat surface 50 feet away from home plate. It took seven balls to issue a walk and batters could request where pitchers threw the ball.